The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.

[WIP] Map of the Exile (vectorial)

I traced the countours of the map and drew a few mountains "just for fun". Then I went ahead and added rivers and a helluva names. That's how it is now: quite simple, but good as basis for RPGing. It's all made with Inkscape.

The only planned improvements are a few more names (for mountain chains, for example) and maybe some reorganization of what's there now. It's always possible that I find a new thing to play with and make further changes, but they're not on the roadmap right now. I also might hurl it into the Gimp to see if I can make it a bit prettier, but don't bet on it just yet.

Map of the Exile, now in color!

I've been overwhelmed by your replies to my previous post, and I thought I should try again ;-)

I've been working a bit more on this. I found bartmoss' map of a much neglected continent and liked the colors of the final result. I thought that I could work something alike into the map, and though I didn't achieve anything as pretty as bartmoss', there was a big improvement. Here's the result:

Now, as usual, my problem has a name: mountains. I don't know how to color them to make them stand out properly. Any suggestions?

I was waiting until more came along but...if you're going to add a lot of detail those big labels are going to get in the way. You might want to make them smaller but space them out with kerning so that they cover the same area.

If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)

I was waiting until more came along but...if you're going to add a lot of detail those big labels are going to get in the way. You might want to make them smaller but space them out with kerning so that they cover the same area.